filling a void in southern food blogging since 2004

Wednesday, 31 July 2013

tequila mockingbird

Devouring Tequila Mockingbird this month. Sure, you can read it straight through. But I find it's better to take it in sips, like a cocktail. Its subtitle (and clever title) tells all: Cocktails with a Literary Twist. As a bookish type I was drawn to this. And I noticed while visiting Columbus' Book Loft, that a customer clutched it to her bosom as she ferreted her way through the store's myriad Alice in Wonderland rooms, only to leave it in the cocktail section after all that traipsing.

After all that there's the standard business about tools and glassware, equipment, techniques, garnishes, and flavorings.

And then comes the inflammatory part.

Part 1, Drinks for Dames. Yeah.

So the book is divided into five parts. Ladies first, I suppose, then part 2 is gulps for guys. Then Federle provides "bulk recipes" for book clubs in part three. Fourth is for recovering readers, i.e., the virgin drinks. And then last are munchies for book hounds--not the real title.

So if we get initial objection out of the way regarding gendering of drinks then we can proceed. Why divide the book into drinks for girls and drinks for boys? So I gathered from the loose reasoning here in the brief chapter intro is that the books have female protagonists/heroines. Or they have male protagonists, and that was a simple way to organize and divide? Because overall, I couldn't determine how I'd gender some of the "men's drinks" if I had to. What man drinks blue curacao? Okay, who that is serious about cocktails drinks blue curacao? Confession: I've never tasted it, so I'm typing outta my butt here. But it's blue, and that can't be natural.

Okay. My case study. First drink: One Flew Over the Cosmo's Nest. Figure it out. If you've read Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I have, the narrator is Chief Bromden who comments on the sociopathic antics of Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack played him in the movie). Nurse Ratched is a what? A major character? I can't remember. She decides who gets medication and EST.

But I digress. A cosmopolitan is a "ladies drink", thus fits in better with the Kesey book's title.

I didn't try a lot of the ladies drinks because they were made with Champagne. I don't like it. Curiously, several of the men's drinks are made with champagne, too. I bought wasabi paste to make Bloody Carrie, but haven't been in the mood for that type of tomato drink this summer, but it's on my list. As is Ernest Heminway's bloody mary recipe--even though I'm not a Hemingway fan.

So my favorite of the bunch, that I made over and over? The S(ide)carlet Letter: cherry juice, brandy, and triple sec. I try to do this book reviewing and cocktail making on the cheap. But since today is payday I'm heading to the liquor store for a good bottle of brandy. I substituted pisco for brandy in the S(ide)carlet Letter.

Really delicious. It became, as Federle predicted, a standby.

If you fancy yourself a mixologist and a person of letters, then Tequila Mockingbird will bring hours of reading and drinking pleasure to your home and your vicious circle. Wittiest cocktail literature mashup I've heard, ever. Here are a few to pique your interest: Lord of the Mai-Tais, The Adventures of Sherbet Holmes, The Postman Always Brings Ice, and Lord Pimm.

Go ahead, buy it. Or give it as a gift. This is not a download. It's too nice, you gotta own it and rub your hands on the thick deckle-edge paper, people!

Comments

tequila mockingbird

Devouring Tequila Mockingbird this month. Sure, you can read it straight through. But I find it's better to take it in sips, like a cocktail. Its subtitle (and clever title) tells all: Cocktails with a Literary Twist. As a bookish type I was drawn to this. And I noticed while visiting Columbus' Book Loft, that a customer clutched it to her bosom as she ferreted her way through the store's myriad Alice in Wonderland rooms, only to leave it in the cocktail section after all that traipsing.

After all that there's the standard business about tools and glassware, equipment, techniques, garnishes, and flavorings.

And then comes the inflammatory part.

Part 1, Drinks for Dames. Yeah.

So the book is divided into five parts. Ladies first, I suppose, then part 2 is gulps for guys. Then Federle provides "bulk recipes" for book clubs in part three. Fourth is for recovering readers, i.e., the virgin drinks. And then last are munchies for book hounds--not the real title.

So if we get initial objection out of the way regarding gendering of drinks then we can proceed. Why divide the book into drinks for girls and drinks for boys? So I gathered from the loose reasoning here in the brief chapter intro is that the books have female protagonists/heroines. Or they have male protagonists, and that was a simple way to organize and divide? Because overall, I couldn't determine how I'd gender some of the "men's drinks" if I had to. What man drinks blue curacao? Okay, who that is serious about cocktails drinks blue curacao? Confession: I've never tasted it, so I'm typing outta my butt here. But it's blue, and that can't be natural.

Okay. My case study. First drink: One Flew Over the Cosmo's Nest. Figure it out. If you've read Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which I have, the narrator is Chief Bromden who comments on the sociopathic antics of Randle Patrick McMurphy (Jack played him in the movie). Nurse Ratched is a what? A major character? I can't remember. She decides who gets medication and EST.

But I digress. A cosmopolitan is a "ladies drink", thus fits in better with the Kesey book's title.

I didn't try a lot of the ladies drinks because they were made with Champagne. I don't like it. Curiously, several of the men's drinks are made with champagne, too. I bought wasabi paste to make Bloody Carrie, but haven't been in the mood for that type of tomato drink this summer, but it's on my list. As is Ernest Heminway's bloody mary recipe--even though I'm not a Hemingway fan.

So my favorite of the bunch, that I made over and over? The S(ide)carlet Letter: cherry juice, brandy, and triple sec. I try to do this book reviewing and cocktail making on the cheap. But since today is payday I'm heading to the liquor store for a good bottle of brandy. I substituted pisco for brandy in the S(ide)carlet Letter.

Really delicious. It became, as Federle predicted, a standby.

If you fancy yourself a mixologist and a person of letters, then Tequila Mockingbird will bring hours of reading and drinking pleasure to your home and your vicious circle. Wittiest cocktail literature mashup I've heard, ever. Here are a few to pique your interest: Lord of the Mai-Tais, The Adventures of Sherbet Holmes, The Postman Always Brings Ice, and Lord Pimm.

Go ahead, buy it. Or give it as a gift. This is not a download. It's too nice, you gotta own it and rub your hands on the thick deckle-edge paper, people!